Free Will: Historical and Analytic Perspectives

by Marco Hausmann (Editor), Jïrg Noller (Editor)

Overview

This novel contributed volume advances the current debate on free will by bridging the divide between analytic and historically oriented approaches to the problem. With thirteen chapters by leading academics in the field, the volume is divided into three parts: free will and determinism, free will and indeterminism, and free will and moral responsibility. The contributors aim to initiate a philosophical discourse that profits from a combination of the two approaches. On the one hand, the analytic tools familiar from the debate – arguments, concepts, and distinctions – can be used to sharpen our understanding of classical philosophical positions. On the other hand, the rich philosophical tradition can be reconstructed so as to inspire new solutions.

In recent years, the problem of free will has received special attention in the analytic arena. This is the first anthology to combine historical and analytic perspectives, significantly furthering the debate, and providing a crucial resource to academics and advanced students alike.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9783030611385
Publisher:	Springer International Publishing
Publication date:	03/22/2021
Edition description:	1st ed. 2021
Pages:	341
Product dimensions:	5.83(w) x 8.27(h) x (d)

About the Author

Marco Hausmann is Lecturer in Philosophy at the University of Munich, Germany. He is the author of the papers ‘The Consequence Argument Ungrounded’ (Synthese, 2018), ‘Against Kripke’s Solution to the Problem of Negative Existentials’ (Analysis, 2019) and ‘The Consequence of the Consequence Argument' (Kriterion, forthcoming). His research interests include metaphysics, logic, and the philosophy of language, freedom and religion.

Jörg Noller is Lecturer in Philosophy at the University of Munich, Germany. He is the author and editor of a number of books and articles on freedom from a historical and systematic perspective, including ‘Die Bestimmung des Willens’ (Alber, 2020), ‘Kant and Reinhold’s Dilemma' (European Journal of Philosophy, 2019), and ‘Schiller on Freedom of the Will’ (European Journal of Philosophy, 2020). His research interests include metaphysics, freedom, personhood, and German Idealism.

Table of Contents

Part I: Free Will and Determinism.- 1. What is Determinism?; Helen Steward.- 2. Aristotle and the Discovery of Determinism; Dorothea Frede.- 3. Defending Free Will; Nicholas Rescher.- 4. Some Free Thinking about 'Thinking about Free Will'; Marco Hausmann.- 5. Local-Miracle Compatibilism: A Critique; John Martin Fischer.- 6. Backtracking Counterfactuals and Agents' Abilities; Helen Beebee.- 7. Moral Necessity, Agent Causation, and the Determination of Free Actions in Clarke and Leibniz; Julia Jorati.- Part II: Free Will and Indeterminism.- 8. Indeterministic Compatibilism; Caroline Sartorio.- 9. The Culpability Problem and the Indeterminacy of Choice; Thomas Buchheim.- 10. Ambivalent Freedom: Kant and the Problem of Willkür; Jörg Noller.- 11. Determination, Chance and David Hume: On Freedom as a Power; Thomas Pink.- Part III: Free Will and Moral Responsibility.- 12. Kant's Justification for Freedom as a Conclusion for Moral Responsibility; Claudia Blöser.- 13. Does 'Ought' imply 'Can'?; Peter van Inwagen.